April 5–11, 2019 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 AWP 3
Gas leak at day care center
Our Perspective
Going “Cashless”
Promotes Discrimination
in Our Communities
By Stuart Appelbaum, President
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, UFCW
compared to an average of 6.5 percent nationally.
In addition, about one in five households has no
credit, making it difficult or impossible to obtain a
credit card. New York City’s communities of color
are far less likely to host a branch of a bank, yet
another roadblock for consumers in a cashless
society.
Cashless commerce is a
discriminatory business model that
disadvantages low-income people,
people of color, and seniors.
Fighting Cashless Legislatively
Legislative action is one way to protect
consumers from discriminatory cashless
business practices. In March, both Philadelphia
and New Jersey banned all cashless business at
stores and restaurants. Massachusetts has
required retail businesses to accept cash since
1978, and the Washington DC city council is
considering a bill to ban cash-free restaurants.
In New York City, the RWDSU supports
Initiative 1281-2018 Prohibiting Retail
Establishments from Refusing
to Accept Payment in Cash.
Protecting consumers
and opposing
discrimination helps all
working people.
Bark
Slope
As more establishments refuse to accept
cash, people without credit or debit cards
are facing discrimination. Whether it’s at
a self-service kiosk at a fast-food restaurant or a
grocery store, or at a bar or restaurant that has
signs announcing it’s a “cashless establishment,”
or even an entire sports arena, such as the
concession stands at Barclays Center in Brooklyn,
the concept of credit and debit card only
commerce is starting to take hold.
Cashless commerce does more than just
remove old-fashioned cash from the business of
buying and selling goods, services, and products.
And despite what its proponents say, it isn’t more
convenient – at least not for consumers.
Forcing customers to use only credit or debit
is a discriminatory business model that
disadvantages low-income people, people of
color, and seniors – all groups of people who are
less likely to have bank accounts and credit cards.
To have credit, a person must have a bank
account, and to buy things without cash, a person
must have credit. This means that people without
a bank and a credit card cannot shop at these
businesses, effectively excluding people from
participating in the local economy.
The numbers show how cashless business
discriminates and marginalizes people in our
communities. Communities of color, seniors, lowincome
people, the disabled, and other
marginalized households go unbanked at rates far
higher than the national average. Close to 17
percent of African-American households and 14
percent of Latino households are unbanked,
www.rwdsu.org
The BQX will:
– Run 24 hours and move
50,000 people a day
– Cost the same as a bus or
subway to ride
– Run on tracks in a dedicated
lane, separated from traffic
that often slows down buses
– Carry up to 180 New Yorkers in
each streetcar – more than an
average NYC bus can hold
– Reduce the need for private
vehicles and car shares,
helping to ease congestion
and improve safety on our
busy streets
Queensboro
Bridge
– Provide connections to
transit deserts not served by
any train line including parts of
Astoria, Red Hook and The
Brooklyn Navy Yard / Wallabout
– Run on electric or battery
power, meaning less pollution
and healthier air for Brooklyn
and Queens
– Have street level boarding,
without steps or stairs, making
it easier to board for those with
wheelchairs, walkers, strollers,
bikes or luggage
– Improve access to opportunity
for the over 50% of residents
along the route living in rent
protected or NYCHA housing
who need reliable, efficient
public transit
Manhattan
Bridge
Madison
Square Park
Brooklyn
Bridge
QUEENS
McCarren
Astoria
Bushwick Park
Inlet Park
East
River
Park
West Side
Greenway
Union
Square
Bryant
Park
Washington
Square
Park
Gantry
Plaza
State
Park
Fort
Greene
Fort
Greene
Park
Bklyn
Heights
Vinegar
Hill
Red
Hook
Erie
Basin
Park
Sunset
Park
Astoria
Park
Socrates
Sculpture
Park
Rainey
Park
Bush
Terminal
Piers Park
Central
Park
Trinity
Park
Ravenswood
Long Island City
Hunters
Point
Greenpoint
Williamsburg
Navy
Yard
Downtown
Brooklyn
LIRR
Cobble
Hill
Carroll
Gardens
Park
Slope
South
Slope
Sunset
Park
Boerum
Hill
Gowanus
MANHATTAN
BROOKLYN
India St
Greenpoint
North
6th St
South
Wburg
Pier 11
Pier 6
Ikea
Brooklyn
BMB
EAST RIVER
N
FOR NYC, BY NYC
By Colin Mixson
Brooklyn Paper
It’s the cutest thing ever
— 2019 edition!
Youngsters recited children’s
books to dogs at the
PowerHouse on Eighth bookstore
on March 27, as part
of the borough’s only annual
event where kids learn to read
— and Brooklyn learns to
feel again.
“It was very, very adorable,”
said Mika Kleban,
who organized this year’s
Kids Read to Dogs event.
“Kids read, dogs were pet, all
was well.”
This year’s Kids Read to
Dogs event featured 50 firstgraders,
ages 6 to 7, from
PS 107 reading to registered
therapy dogs at the Eighth
Avenue book seller, where
the pooches offered youngsters
— newly set upon the
path to literacy — a judgement
free audience of very
good listeners, according to
the mom, who serves on the
PS 107 PTA’s Beast Relief
Committee, which teaches
kids about conservation,
and raises money to support
endangered species.
“The whole concept behind
this event is to give kids a nonjudgemental,
non-threatening
audience,” said Kleban.
This year’s event featured
Photo by Caroline Ourso
First-graders pet and read to Fonzie, a German
shepherd, and several other four-legged audience
members at Powerhouse in Park Slope on March 27.
Karat (left) was a great reading companion.
Dogs listen!
Rocky the Australian shepherd,
Cosi the Spinone Italiano,
Kylo the Yorkshire
terrier, Fonzie the German
shepherd, and Karat, a 6-yearold
Labrador Retriever, who
has the sweetest, saddest
eyes in the whole world,
pictures show.
By Colin Mixson
Brooklyn Paper
Con Edison crews are investigating
a power outage
in Bedford-Stuyesant after
firefighters evacuated a daycare
center on the morning
of March 28 in response to a
subterranean gas leak.
New York’s Bravest responded
to the emergency
near Franklin Avenue at
8:04 a.m., and evacuated a
nearby childcare provider
in response to the leak, according
to a spokesman for
the fire department.
Firefighters called National
Grid and Con Edison to assist
them in patching up the
leak, and the city’s first responders
have since handed
off the problem to technicians
with the utility companies,
according to the FDNY
spokesman.
A representative for power
company Con Edison confirmed
that five houses on
the block were affected by the
electrical outage, and that the
utility company was still investigating
the cause.
A spokeswoman for National
Grid could not immediately
comment on the status
of the leak by press time.
This story will be updated
with more information as it
becomes available.
The dogs were educated
to provide unconditional love
to the sick, elderly, and allaround
melancholy residents
of New York.
They endured a rigorous
training program that
promotes only the city’s
best behaved furballs,
according to a rep from
the foundation.
“What people in our organization
have said is that
every dog is a great dog,
but not every dog is a Good
Dog,” said Carly Goteiner,
director of community engagement
at the Good Dog
Foundation.
On March 27, some dogs
proved better listeners than
others, who took story time
as their que to take a nap,
while the youngsters gave
them pets and scratches,
Goteiner said.
“Some of them used it as
an opportunity to relax and
get pets, but others listened
very intently,” she said.
But the foundation’s strict
training regimen shined
through in the end, according
to Goteiner, who claimed
who dogs set a great example
for the kids.
“I might be biased, I have
to say the dogs were better
behaved,” she said. “But the
kids were great.”
Mika Kleban
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